Sony is producing 3D footage of Wimbledon for the BBC – Matt Warman takes
an exclusive tour behind the scenes at SW19

The BBC is about to broadcast its first ever mainstream 3D programmes – Wimbledon’s finals, and today’s men’s semi-finals, will be broadcast on the BBC HD channel. It will allow the small number of users who already own a 3D TV and either a satellite or cable subscription to see Murray, Sharapova, Nadal and others in a whole new dimension.

Journalists and others have been singing the praises of 3D for a number of years now, but the public has yet to show its enthusiasm. Even though John Lewis reports sales are up 38 per cent in recent weeks, there are still fewer than 200,000 sets in the UK. How many of those are actually connected to the essential 3D broadcast source is not know. The biggest drivers, analysts say, have been 3D Blu-ray discs and video games.

If ever there was a sport that should change that, however, it’s tennis. Not because of the unique appeal of Wimbledon, but rather because, in fact, it is the only sport whose coverage is fundamentally altered for the better by the introduction of 3D.

All the 3D coverage for Wimbledon is being provided by Sony, and the company’s Executive Producer for both this event and the preceding football World Cup is Peter Angel. He says that viewers have become used to ‘Camera 1’ – the high-level shot of two tennis players each pegged to a baseline. “But more than football or other sports, tennis is all about depth,” says Angel. “In 3D you can get a real sense of the ball coming towards you and whether it’s in or out. The shots on camera are lower down, closers to the players and there are more cuts.” He agrees that covering tennis in 3D is as artistically different as it is technically different.

Those technical details have been long in the perfecting, however. Angel estimates that 3D is now “twice as good for viewers” as it was a year ago. Admitting that the learning curve has been very steep, he says that filming the World Cup and the NBA has allowed the industry to learn what works as whole, rather than getting bogged down in traditional rivalries. Indeed, with Sky and Virgin providing the vast bulk of 3D subscriptions, those two companies have a huge amount to gain from the BBC increasing the profile of 3D programing.

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There is, however, a significantly increased workload in filming in 3D. A whole new category of employee, the stereographer, is responsible for providing a consistent standard of 3D footage from events, and at the beginning of each day’s filming for Wimbledon all the cameras are recalibrated, and they must also be adjusted in real time to new situations. A new, 3D version of the Hawkeye technology has been produced too. And simply because 3D footage is composed of two images displayed side-by-side, there is a lot more equipment around.

At Wimbledon itself, two huge outside broadcast trucks – built in Basingstoke - have been in position for the whole tournament. Testing throughout the first ten days, including using the ladies semi-finals as a dress rehearsal, has been exhaustive. The whole crew even wears the same ‘3D Crew’ polo shirts.

The footage the Angel’s team produces will be covered on BBC HD, but will also be beamed around the world to nearly 200 cinemas. Wimbledon, and Britain too, will receive a huge international boost. If there’s any justice, 3D TV sales will go up too.